Margate (?), from the Sea

The title is not Turner's own, but Turner knew the coast around Margate in Kent well and often painted it. In his views of Margate, its white cliffs are often prominent, and the suggestion of distant white cliffs here makes the identification of the scene as Margate likely, though not certain.

Turner's main purpose was not to depict a specific place but to explore the nature of the sea under a changing sky. The painting is unfinished.